We are talking about 18-year-old kids with no assets and likely no income, who have potentially never had a job, asking to borrow thousands of dollars because they believe (but cannot prove) that they will graduate college several years from now and make enough money to pay it back. Any banker who would give them a loan on normal terms would be an idiot.
The only reason this works is that student loan terms are uniquely different from the terms for other loans. That is what makes the risk acceptable to lenders. Change that, and guess what -- nobody gets loans.
We are talking about 18-year-old kids with no assets and likely no income, who have potentially never had a job, asking to borrow thousands of dollars because they believe (but cannot prove) that they will graduate college several years from now and make enough money to pay it back. Any banker who would give them a loan on normal terms would be an idiot.
The only reason this works is that student loan terms are uniquely different from the terms for other loans. That is what makes the risk acceptable to lenders. Change that, and guess what -- nobody gets loans.